Black-bellied Plover
Pluvialis squatarola
Also known as: Grey Plover · Gray Plover · Silver Plover · GRPL
Aves
VULNERABLE
Stats
- Lifespan
- 10-15 yrs
- Size
- Medium
- Diet
- Carnivore
- Activity
- Cathemeral
- Social
- Flock
- Biome
- Coastal mudflat
- Range
- Worldwide
- Movement
- Flight
- Breeding
- Egg-laying
- Defense
- Camouflage
- Status
- Vulnerable
About
A stocky shorebird that breeds on the Arctic tundra and winters on coastlines worldwide, molting from a striking black-and-white breeding plumage to a plain gray nonbreeding one. Its haunting, whistled call is often heard before the bird is seen.
Life cycle
- 1.eggA clutch of eggs is incubated in the nest, kept warm by a brooding parent until the chicks pip free.
- 2.hatchlingA naked or downy hatchling is fed in the nest by its parents.
- 3.juvenileA feathered juvenile fledges from the nest and learns to fly and forage.
- 4.adultFully grown with adult plumage.
Learn more
Taxonomy
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Charadriidae
- Genus
- Pluvialis
- Species
- Pluvialis squatarola